The Butterfly's Struggle
by EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD
Summary: One day, Private discovers a butterfly struggling to get out of her cocoon, so he decides to help her out.


**Butterfly's Struggle**

**By EppogirlXD**

**You may or may not have heard this story before, I myself have heard it loads of times already, and one day realized that hey, Private would be the perfect character of the story, seeing how he's all kind and innocent. So I decided to PoMify the story. So here you go.**

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Private waddled away from the penguin habitat with relief. Training had been tough today – he was glad it was over for now. He decided to take a walk in the park to cool down.

He walked past a tree in the park before gasping and backtracking. Hanging on one of the branches was a butterfly's cocoon! Or was it called a chrysalis? Kowalski would probably know. Private had never seen one grow so close to the zoo before. He sat down on the grass and rested his chin in his flippers to silently watch and admire it for a while longer.

After a while of absolutely no movement, Private decided it was okay to come closer to observe it more. That's when he saw the small hole. He sat back down and watched in fascination for several more hours, even missing a few episodes of the Lunacorns, as a butterfly struggled and struggled to squeeze her body through the small opening.

Then she stopped. Private was very worried by then. "Are you okay?" He asked cautiously, wondering if the butterfly could hear him.

"This... Is… Really hard," he heard the butterfly gasp. He had to strain his earholes to hear her voice. "I'm not sure if I can make it!"

Private's heart nearly broke from hearing the fragile butterfly's desperate cries. He really wanted to help in some way. He definitely would not let the butterfly keep suffering like this. "I'll be right back!"

He slid as fast as he could back to the HQ. "There you are Rico!" he exclaimed, glad to see just the penguin he needed. "Do you have a tool I could use to cut something?"

Rico coughed up an axe.

"Uh… Do you have something less violent?"

Rico handed him a pair of scissors instead.

"Thanks Rico!"

Private headed back to the cocoon, now more determined than ever to help the butterfly in need.

"Hold on," he told the butterfly. "You'll be out in no time!"

And carefully, he snipped away at the cocoon until the hole was big enough for the butterfly to come out easily. And she emerged quickly, much to Private's delight.

"Thank you!" The butterfly smiled and Private grinned back cheerfully, feeling so happy for having helped a new friend.

But the butterfly did not look quite right. Her body was swollen and her wings were small and shrivelled.

"Are you okay?" Private asked, instantly worried again. He expected her body to shrink down and beautiful wings to spread out and expand to be large enough to support her body. But the butterfly wasn't exactly acting like other butterflies. Instead of taking off, she was weakly crawling around. "Aren't you supposed to… you know… fly away now?"

"I'm trying…" The butterfly crawled around a bit more. Then she stopped, looked at Private, and burst into sobs. "I can't! It's impossible!"

"Oh, just keep trying! Try and try again!" Private cried, feeling panicked. "Nothing is impossible!"

But the butterfly didn't. So Private picked her up in his arms and ran back to the HQ again, as fast as his little feet could waddle him. He decided to show her to Skipper. Skipper would know what to do!

But when he got back to the lair and had gently laid the butterfly onto the table, he saw that no one was around. Not even Rico. What to do now? Where was Skipper?

Just then, the lab door opened and Kowalski came out. Private's eyes lit up. Kowalski would also know what to do! He was their science guy, so he would know what was going on!

"Kowalski!" Private exclaimed, pulling him over to the table. "This butterfly just came out of her cocoon, but she can't fly! Do you know why?"

After making all his quick measurements and calculations of the butterfly, Kowalski stepped back and looked straight at Private. "Private, did you – in some way – HELP the butterfly come out of its chrysalis?"

Private looked startled. "Yes, well, she looked like she was having a difficult time, so I took a pair of scissors from Rico and-"

Kowalski threw his flippers up in the air. "Aha! Private, did you by any chance know that butterflies are SUPPOSED to have a difficult time getting out of their chrysalises? It's all part of the natural process!"

Private stared at him. "But that doesn't make any sense! Why would they have to do that?"

Kowalski rolled his eyes. "Pushing out of the opening is the butterfly's way of pushing the fluid out of its body and into its wings so that it'll be ready for flight once it has achieved its freedom from the chrysallis! The restricting cocoon and the struggle required was so that the butterfly would be able to fly! You are not supposed to help it!"

"So…" Private looked ready to cry now. He'd made both the butterfly broken and Kowalski yell. "My good intentions harmed the butterfly…" He looked at the butterfly. " I am so, so sorry… I ruined your life."

"Oh…" The butterfly went. "At least it was just a mistake. But I'll be crawling around like this for the rest of life, I guess…"

"See Private," Kowalski said. "Sometimes struggles are exactly what is needed in life. I hope you've learned your lesson now."

"Oh yes, Kowalski," Private replied softly. "I definitely have."

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"**Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been and we would never be able to fly."**


End file.
